Climate – June 26

June 26, 2007

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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage


Ten predictions about climate change that have come true

Tim Flannery, UK Times
Times editor: Here are the hard facts about global warming that everyone should know, compiled for Times Online by internationally acclaimed writer, scientist and explorer Tim Flannery, author of “The Weather Makers: Our changing climate and what it means for life on earth.”

Ten predictions made by climate scientists that have come true (or are becoming true)

1) That the Earth would warm as more CO2 was put into the atmosphere (Svante Arrhenius in 1893)

2) That we’d begin to see noticable changes to Earth’s climate by around 2000 (some IPCC scientists ).

3) That sea-level would start rising

4) That Earth’s Ice would start melting rapidly (James Hanson)

5) that hurricanes would increase in intensity (this one goes back to Alfred Russel Wallace in 1900)

6) That species would start going extinct as a result of climate change.

7) That Australia would start drying out (Hadley Centre scientists)

8) That tropical diseases would increase

9) That food crops would be adversely affected

10) That the CO2 would begin to acidify the ocean

The ten biggest changes to the weather wrought by climate change…

The ten places in the world / animals in the world most endangered by global warming …
(25 June 2007)


Armies must ready for global warming role: Britain

Jeremy Lovell, Reuters
Global warming is such a threat to security that military planners must build it into their calculations, the head of Britain’s armed forces said on Monday.

Jock Stirrup, chief of the defense staff, said risks that climate change could cause weakened states to disintegrate and produce major humanitarian disasters or exploitation by armed groups had to become a feature of military planning.

But he said first analyses showed planners would not have to switch their geographical focus, because the areas most vulnerable to climate change are those where security risks are already high.
(25 June 2007)


State Dept.’s McMurray outlines U.S. efforts to address global warming internationally
(Video and transcript)
Monica Trauzzi:, OnPoint, E&E TV
With China surpassing the United States in greenhouse gas emissions by the end of this year, the push to reduce emissions internationally is in full force.

During today’s OnPoint, Claudia McMurray, assistant secretary of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the State Department, discusses U.S. efforts to address climate change abroad.

McMurray discusses the most prominent challenges facing the world as countries try to address climate change. She explains why investment in cleaner technologies is important and discusses the threat of deforestation posed by the increasing demand for biofuels.
(26 June 2007)


Tags: Energy Policy, Geopolitics & Military